Sweden completed a sweep of the Olympic cross-country relays in Sochi, winning gold in the mens event on Sunday to go along with

Sweden completed a sweep of the Olympic cross-country relays in Sochi, winning gold in the mens event on Sunday to go along with

Sweden completed a sweep of the Olympic cross-country relays in Sochi, winning gold in the mens event on Sunday to go along with the title won in the womens event on Saturday. Mike Trout Jersey . The team of Lars Nelson, Daniel Richardsson, Johan Olsson, and anchor Marcus Hellner cruised to victory in the 4x10 km event, winning in a time of one hour, 28 minutes, and 42.0 seconds. Hellner was given a 14-second lead to work with, and stretched it to 27 seconds before crossing the finish line, waving a Swedish flag he grabbed from the crowd. Spurred by the home crowd and an appearance by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia fought off a surprising France team for the silver, crossing the line in 1:29:09.3. France, not even expected to contend in this event, won bronze in 1:29:13.9. The Canadian team of Len Valjas, Jesse Cockney, Graeme Killick and Ivan Babikov finished 12th in 1:33:19.0. Canadas Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey were left off the relay team, possibly being rested for the team sprint on Wednesday. Coming off a disappointing result in the womens relay, with the heavy favourites finishing fifth, Norway again failed to hit the podium, placing fourth with a time of 1:29:51.7, well off the top-three finishers. Andrelton Simmons Jersey . - Pittsburgh Steelers president Art Rooney II says the NFL has told the team it will not be docked a pick in this years draft for coach Mike Tomlins foray onto the field against Baltimore last November. Andrew Heaney Jersey .com) - The 2014 Holiday Bowl is the first postseason venture pitting a pair of ranked foes against each other, as No. http://www.cheapangelsjerseys.com/ . Louis Cardinals continued their offensive tear with a 9-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener of a four-game series. ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NFL officiating department will help referees rule on instant replay reviews starting next season. League owners passed a rule Tuesday allowing referees to consult with director of officiating Dean Blandino and his staff to help determine whether a call should be upheld or overturned. NFL officials said the change should speed up the process. Blandino and other staff will be monitoring the games from league offices in New York, and they will immediately begin reviewing challenges before the referee even gets to his monitor. They can make recommendations on what replays to look at, but the referee still will make the final decision. Rich McKay, Falcons president and co-chairman of the influential competition committee, called it "kind of a proof of concept to see how this works. We feel pretty comfortable with it, though." "What we do like is we take the true experts in replay, those in New York, to be able to communicate with the referees who have the ultimate decision," McKay said. "We just think we get a more consistent decision-making process." Blandino said the new process will be faster and make more eyes available to help in the reviews. "Well be reviewing all the angles the network is providing, in essence finding what is the best reviewable aspect, and getting a baseline for the referee," he said. "Then we will begin the communication process with the referee once he is done speaking to the coach and announcing the challenge. "Consistency is what we are striving for in officiating and this will definitely help us in that area." One coach, Cincinnatis Marvin Lewis, a member of the competition committee, believes the entire procedure has been upgraded. "By consulting with New York, they can speed up the review process while they talk to the referee," Lewis said. "They can tell the rreferee: Here are the shots all set for you to look at. Martin Maldonado Jersey. " Blandino wasnt sure this change would lead to more challenges, noting that coaches will still lose a timeout for an incorrect challenge. Players no longer will be allowed to dunk the football over the crossbar of the goalposts in celebration. Blandino said the NFL is making a clarification of the rules for mutual respect and sportsmanship. "We put a rule in several years ago about not using props on the football field: the football, the pylon," he said. "This is just expanding upon that rule to include the crossbar of the goalpost. We had the situation with (Saints tight end) Jimmy Graham knocking the uprights off kilter last season and it delayed the game. "We have a potential rule change where we could raise the uprights, so you may have more issues with that if guys are dunking." The owners also banned roll-up blocks to the side of a player. In the past, the rule only barred such blocks from behind. "We saw some plays on tape that we just felt like we needed to expand that protection," McKay said. Commissioner Roger Goodell believes small changes like that one, along with other recent rule changes, have made the game safer. "We went through that (data) in greater detail with the outside firm thats been tracking that for us and its very clear that the rule changes we have made had the positive impact that we intended," Goodell said Monday. "While there are some that say it has had a negative (impact) -- as an example, ACL injuries being up -- thats not the case. What weve seen is that players have adjusted to the rules and they are finding that target zone and it is a safer, better game because of it." A dozen other proposals for rules or bylaw changes were being considered by the owners, with votes on them expected Wednesday. 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